The Red Mill

Very enjoyable silent romantic comedy set in Holland which stars Marion Davies as Tina, pigtailed drudge of the Red Mill Tavern - she cleans the floor by skating around with scrub brushes attached to her feet and has a little pet mouse who lives in her wooden shoe. The man who runs the tavern is a real meanie who goes around with a snarl and a whip and likes to lock local boys in the "Haunted Mill". Handsome Dennis (played by Owen Moore), visiting Holland (attracted by the damsels not the dams) along with his valet, is outside skating where Tina observes him through her window, immediately falls for him, and races right out there to meet him! Well, they are soon skating together while she swoons on his shoulder - but he leaves town before anything can come of this, spring comes, and she dreams of love. Meanwhile, the Burgomaster's daughter Gretchen (Louise Fazenda) is being forced by her father to marry the Governor - and is being locked in her room at the Inn until the wedding day. But Gretchen loves another - so to help her out, Tina gets the idea that they should exchange clothes so Gretchen can sneak out to meet her secret love. Misunderstandings ensue when Dennis, now back at the Inn, meets Marion dressed as Gretchen and falls in love with her.

This is a really excellent film - well done and full of charm. There are a number of amusing, laugh out loud scenes in this - Marion Davies has a face full of expression and is really wonderful here. There is one very funny scene when she first meets Owen Moore's character - she enters a skating race which he is judging (with the prize of a kiss for the winner!) and ends up with a face covered in ice (and no kiss - ah). Another funny bit shows her with no make-up as she covers up her face with a "mud massage" which magically comes off to reveal her now fully made-up, beautiful face. Snitz Edwards, who plays the valet, also adds a lot of humor to this - I think he's funny when he's just standing there! This film was very reminiscent to me of the type of film that Mary Pickford might have starred in - so it's interesting that Owen Moore stars in this, Mary's first husband. The version of this as shown on TCM featured a gorgeous clear print with a lot of contrast and a really terrific music score that I loved - I thought the music really helped enhance this film. A romantic, funny, and delightful film.

Here's the thing.

If you love film, you'll love the experiments in cinematic narrative of "Citizen Kane," but at the same time wonder why he chose Hearst and Davis to pick on. You would think that the choice in subject would be every bit as nuanced, especially as the choice is popularly credited with destroying him in Hollywood.

And that might lead you to some of Marion Davis' films, especially this one directed by a similarly blacklisted Fatty Arbuckle. This is such a gem. Actually, its quite ordinary, but she is so special in it, it will glow forever. It seems that she would have been better off without Hearst's interest in her. She had the stuff.

The climax of this has something of a different flavor than the rest of it, which pretty much follows the formula of the day. It has a pacing that was unusual for the time. Hard to notice today when such things seem like the way the world breathes. But Fatty knew his stuff, and so did Marion. And so did Orson but he actually relied on them.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

I agree with my predecessor on the beauty and artistry of this masterpiece of the Seventh Art. I offer my hat to TCM for completing an outstanding restoration of a masterpiece of Americana. The musical score that was added this silent film was well chosen and replaces very well the missing dialog.

I would like to bring the attention of the reader on the props and decor used in the movie. The details of the set mimicking the Holland country side complete with its channels, windmills, iced ponds, and buildings are so well detailed with the means of the day. For example, look at at the decoration the bedrooms, the kitchen where Ms. Davis strenuously works, and notice the matching outdoor scenery showing through the kitchen windows. The haunted red mill with it's intricate detail appears right out of a Currier and Yves lithograph. It is fascinating that the director give us such a realistic vision of the set. For example, pay attention to the intricacies of the mechanism powered by the sails (arms) of the windmill as the raging storm shakes the old structure. The entire set is a work of art to preserve as a fine example of the quality and wholesomeness that made Hollywood, the "dream factory", world famous.

I offer my thanks to TCM for preserving such masterpiece and to Michael Picton for such a delightful musical score for generations to enjoy.

PS: The "Burgomaster" or Burgomeester was the town mayor in Holland and a person of considerable power in these small communities.

The saddest thing about The Red Mill is that it never got a sound adaption so the Victor Herbert-Henry Blossom score was never heard. Watching it I was hoping at least to hear some of the songs on the sound track. But there was nary a note of Herbert's heard in the film.

The Red Mill was a vehicle for the famous vaudeville team of Fred Stone and David Montgomery and ran in the 1906-07 season for 274 performances. The score consisted of such Herbert classics as In Old New York and Every Day Is Lady's Day With Me and Moonbeams. Purportedly there was a planned remake of it that was shelved that would have starred Laurel and Hardy. It might have been a great film.

This version has the plot somewhat altered to fit Marion Davies who plays a Dutch barmaid who falls in love with visiting Irishman Owen Moore. It's a good thing that Roscoe Arbuckle directing under the pseudonym William Goodrich was in charge. He saw that Davies got some nice comedy bits at which she was so much better at than some of the heavy dramatics that William Randolph Hearst her patron and paramour saw as her strength.

MGM spent a lot of money designing some great sets including a Dutch mill where Davies spends the climax trying to elude the villain with Moore trying to rescue her. It's similar to the rather outlandish and funny climax in the rollicking film Many Rivers To Cross that starred Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker with Davies her own worst enemy in the rescue.

The mill itself is very similar to the one in the Frankenstein movies over at Universal. It's quite remarkable even for today.

I'm disappointed in not hearing any Victor Herbert music, but Marion Davies is quite good in this film.

The good news is that even the title cards have a wit and humor that is carried over beautifully onto film under Fatty Arbuckle's direction for THE RED MILL, based loosely on a Victor Herbert operetta.

Quaint is a good word to describe the costumes and settings of the Dutch tale, which opens with a charming ice skating sequence that is played for laughs and largely succeeds because of the clever acting of MARION DAVIES and OWEN MOORE. The tale that follows is a case of mistaken identity, with Moore confusing Davies with the burgonmaster's daughter LOUISE FAZENDA, who is engaged in a comical relationship with someone else.

Davies has never been better at establishing herself as a comedienne from the start, given lots of bits of business (on and off the ice), including the stay in a haunted mill that occupies that last fifteen minutes of the story and is a good mixture of laughter and fright.

Technically, the film looks great with TCM's restoration and a bouncy score that accompanies rather than distracts (as some of the new scores do). Very worthwhile Marion Davies vehicle shows that she did indeed have promise as more than Hearst's favorite protégé.

Trivia note: The sets and costumes cry out for early Technicolor but only the night scenes are shaded a blue tint.